Compliments

About Me & My Family

We have four children, and have been traveling with them since they were born. We take day-trip "adventures" to both well-known and out-of-the-way places, and we're trying to see as much as the USA as we can.
We love the back roads and things off the beaten path.

Our Family's Travel Personality

curious

We Just Got Back From

a two-week roadtrip to Florida, where we followed the coasts and avoided the theme parks.

Our Favorite Vacation Spot

Chicago--there's so much to do, and it's within a day's drive

A Place We'd Love To Visit

the Grand Canyon

Favorite Vacation Memory

Sitting on a beautiful sandy beach on a warm summer day . . . at Grand Beach, an hour north of Winnipeg, Manitoba!

Worst Travel Moment With My Kids:

Four of the six of us getting sick, in a motel room, on Christmas Eve.

Websites I Like:

http://minnemom.com is my own Travels with Children website. There you can find more detailed reviews of almost everything I've reviewed here on Trekaroo.

Hotels for Large Families

Hotels we've stayed at that feature enough space for our family of six.

This hotel is easy to get to and close to restaurants and stores. The rooms are reasonably-priced and spacious for families. The breakfasts and evening receptions are good, and staff are friendly with the kids. The only thing that's strange is that access to the pool (outdoor pool only) is through the reception/eating area. Movies and players are available for rent at the front desk as well.

This motel just opened in 2008, and it has a very interesting modern decor. The kids loved the flat-screen TV in the bathroom! Our room was large, but the pull-out sofa was very small, even though it said it would sleep two. Good thing our girls are little yet. Rollaways are not available. (I asked.) This is a motel that will allow six people in a room.

We chose this hotel because it was the only one in Galveston with room for the six of us. Our room had two beds and a sofabed, but the beds were crammed against the walls, so it wasn't really spacious.

As in another Comfort Inn, I had to go to the front desk to request bedding for the sofabed.

2nd and 3rd floor gulf-side rooms have balconies. We paid $16 more (total of $80 for room) for this "view" of the water. The view wasn't great; there's an empty lot, lots of wires, and a road before the water. Many other hotels along Seawall Bvd are a block closer to the water.

If an ocean view, or easy beach access, is what you want, get something on Seawall in the lower numbers. I think the actual beach area ran about to 61st. The higher streets will be right across the street from the Gulf of Mexico, but may have rocks or fishing piers instead of beaches.

Breakfast at this hotel was standard Comfort Inn fare: cereal, waffles, breads, pastries. Staff were friendly, beds fine, room in good working order. I just had counted on a better view of the water.

Get a King Neptune Suite; it will be spacious and a nice place to retreat to when you tire of the water park. The water park is good for little kids, and there's a nice big open pool, but there are no big thrill slides; just a tot area with small slides. For kids under age 8 or 9, it's perfect. There is not wireless Internet in the rooms, so if you want to go online, bring an ethernet cord so you can hook into it. There is no free breakfast and the only restaurant on the premises is the snack bar in the pool area. There are refrigerators and microwaves in the suites, though, so you can bring your own food.

The waterpark here is fun with lots to do and plenty of lifeguards, and there's also an arcade, an outdoor playground, and free mini-golf. The key to a good stay here is to get the right room. There are two sections to the hotel. The Tiki Tower is the newer section, with large rooms having either a poolside or waterfront view. The Polynesian Plaza is the older portion of the hotel, and to get to the waterpark you have a short outdoor walk. I've heard poor reviews of the Polynesian Plaza rooms, but we've stayed in the Tiki Tower twice and had a very nice stay.

This is a nice, new hotel that borders on being upscale in its dining and decor. Down the hall, however, it's all about families with a large waterpark. The indoor waterpark is nice in itself, the but outdoor park is wonderful! Overlooking the lake, there are large waterslides with a lazy river, a kid-play area with swimming pool, and a jumping/diving area. There are plenty of deck chairs. Lifeguards are on duty, and life jackets are available for use. Just down the path from the hotel, there's a nice playground area for kids. Unfortunately, there aren't many other dining options in the vicinity, nor much else to do in Storm Lake, so plan to spend lots of time at the resort.

We booked a 2-bedroom + kitchen/living room suite here for $116 in 2007. A malfunction in one of the bathrooms forced us into a 1-bedroom suite instead, but it was still very spacious for our family of six. The breakfast and evening "reception" was plenty of food, and staff were friendly. We're finding that Homewood Suites are nice hotels at a good value for our larger-than-average family.

As hotels go, Homewood Suites is one of our family favorites. This hotel had a nicely designed room for us. The bedroom had two queen beds, and the living room had a sofabed. A door separates the two rooms. The bathroom area was efficient yet spacious. The full kitchen had everything but an oven, and dishes, pans, and utensils are included.

The kitchen table only seated three, but there was also a coffee table in the living room and a desk in the bedroom for more table space. Although there were restaurants nearby, we chose to cook in our suite.

The TV's were flat-screens, and I was able to plug in my iPod so we could watch a movie. There was a VCR/DVD player (combo or just one, I can't remember) on the living room TV.

Two closets helped us keep our luggage out of the way, and there was plenty of room in the kitchen for the food we'd brought.

Our room, in the winter, had a AAA rate of $94. This was a bargain in my book and I wish we could have stayed here longer. The hotel is just off the interstate yet is quiet.

Breakfast at Homewood Suites is always good, and this one had a table large enough for the six of us, plus a small activity table for tots. The assortment of hot and cold breakfast items pleased even the picky eaters in our family.

I would definitely recommend this hotel to families traveling through the Baton Rouge area.

We had a room with two queen beds and a sofabed. (All the rooms in this hotel are suites.) It was a well-planned room, and included a small refrigerator, microwave, and sink at the bar area.

Staff were very friendly. On Christmas Eve, they had a milk and cookies hour. When I remarked that we'd be at church during that time, they delivered a plate of milk and cookies to our room and it was waiting there when we got back.

Wi-fi connected automatically. I like not having to go through a lot of steps for connection.

Breakfast area was large and breakfast was good. I believe there was a pool, but we didn't use it.

Our room had a AAA rate of $105, and it was well worth this price. I would definitely recommend this hotel to other families.

We had a room with two beds and a sofa bed. The room was adequate for our needs (six people).

We didn't use the pool area, although it looked like it would be great for preschoolers. There was a castle slide area and a few other small slides in a shallow pool, and one longer slide into a deeper pool for older kids and adults.

Breakfast was excellent with lots of choices, both hot and cold. Breakfast eating area was large and open to the lobby. I think if we'd ordered pizza, etc., we would have been able to eat there.

Our room was around $100/night in the winter. Great Wolf and Kalahari are just down the street, as is Knuckleheads entertainment center, the outlet mall, Famous Dave's, and McDonalds. This is right off the Interstate and easy to find.

This hotel is about 10 minutes from Sea World. It is quite new and when we stayed (12/09) it still had the "now open" sign out front and smelled of fresh paint and carpet.

We had a suite with a bedroom with two queen beds, separated with a door from the living room/bathroom area. A mini-fridge and microwave were part of the living area. There were flat-screen tv's in each room, but we could not access the ports to be able to plug in an iPod, games, etc.

The beds are tall and ceilings are high in the rooms. Decor is tasteful. Although not as efficiently designed as some suites we've been in, the room was certainly adequate for our needs.

Breakfast was the same each morning: eggs with sausage, biscuits and gravy, Texas-shaped waffles, breads/doughnuts, and cereals. Not the best we've ever had, but not bad. The breakfast area has a large-screen tv and sounds seem to echo in there, so we were constantly trying to keep the kids down to a dull roar.

A shopping area including many restaurants and Target as well as an urgent care clinic is just down the road and easily accessible.

Our room was large and the price of $71/nt (AAA) was very reasonable for the accommodations we received.

Our room here was spacious, and there was an elevator and luggage cart handy for getting our stuff to our room. The breakfast area is large and cheery. This is one of the few hotels that will accommodate our family of six. It's just across the road from the Coralville Mall.